The countdown to the 2015 Winter X Games has officially begun!
With only 3 days left until the athletes hit the slopes, CelebSecrets4U is giving you the breakdown on what you can expect from the world’s best as they battle it out for a podium spot in Ski, Snowboard and Snowmobile competitions.
Today, we are sharing our thoughts on who will snag the medals for Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle.
The Jeep Slopestyle course is approximately 1,700 feet long with seven features and a vertical drop of 290 feet. Snowboarders will attempt multiple tricks throughout their run on specially designed jumps, rails, boxes, and other obstacles. The Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle contest consists of two rounds. In the Elimination round, each of the 16 competitors will take two runs down the course with the best run counting. The top eight advance to the Final round is a best-of-three run format. The eight women will compete in a Final-only competition, following the same format as the Men’s final. Snowboard Slopestyle is judged on creativity, trick completion and style.
Check out our predictions for Men and Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle below…
Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle:
1st Place- Sage Kotsenburg – Always the snowboarder having the most fun on the mountain, Kotsenburg had a breakout contest season in 2014 with a Cinderella-style rise to the first Olympic gold of the Sochi Games. Kotsenburg capped off 2014 with an ESPY award win for Best Male Olympian.
2nd Place- Ståle Sandbech– Last year, Ståle won the bronze medal in Slopestyle, however because he won the silver in Sochi, we think he may ditch the bronze medal and move up to silver.
3rd place- Mark McMorris– Even though Mark has won silver in this category the past couple of years, Ståle had beat Mark in the Olympics and think Mark might be taking bronze this year.
Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle:
1st Place- Jamie Anderson-The most decorated rider in the Snowboard Slopestyle field, Anderson has earned a medal in every X Games Slopestyle event in which she has competed. After taking Slopestyle gold at X Games Aspen in 2012 and 2013, Anderson settled for silver at X Games Aspen 2014 but returned a month later to win the first-ever women’s Snowboard Slopestyle gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. Since Jamie did win gold in Sochi, we think she will still be on her winning streak and win gold in Aspen this year.
2nd Place- Silje Norendal– Even though Silje is the defending gold champ we think Jamie will be giving Silje a run for her money. It will be a close call, but since Jamie did win in Sochi we think it may push Silje back to silver.
3rd Place- Spencer O’ Brien- Spencer has won bronze at X Games Aspen in 2012 and 2013 and we think she will win it again especially going against Jamie and Silje.
What are your thoughts on our predictions for Snowboard Slopestyle at X Games Aspen 2015? Make sure to see who snags the medals from January 22-25 only on ESPN.
